The Chicago Cubs have decided to play a little roulette with their pitching staff.
Carlos Zambrano goes from the bullpen to the starting rotation.
Tom Gorzelanny and his 3.66 ERA as a starter moves to the bullpen.
John Grabow heads to the DL and the Cubs have called up Andrew Cashner to replace him in the bullpen.
Cashner might be the big story out of all this movement.
Cashner was the Cubs’ first round pick in 2008 and is the second top prospect the Cubs have called up this season. The first being SS Starlin Castro.
Even though Cashner has made the majority of his appearances ...

As Chicago Cubs' starter Carlos Silva morphs into a Cy Young candidate so far early in the 2010 season, Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry is getting more than his share of credit for pulling off that trade.
That credit is completely unwarranted.
You don't get credit for signing the worst possible fit for your team in 2009 in Milton Bradley and ruining the season, and then receive accolades because the Seattle Mariners dumped their refuse on you and he turns out much better than expected, at least for now.
Actually even if Silva completely bombs the rest of the season, the trade still ...

When you look at the calendar and pick out a game to do for this type of project, you never know what kind of game you are going to get. A triumphant blowout for the good guys? A nail-biter into the ninth? None of the above?
At least the good part about bringing up the rear in a game like this is that there's not much to discuss. Justin will be discussing/has discussed the eighth inning and the rest of the UCB has taken their cracks at their portions of the game. So it's time to take a look at ...

The Chicago Cubs currently are 23-26, good for third place in the National League Central Division. They are six games behind the Cincinnati Reds and five behind the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cubs are truly struggling this season. A loss today put's them on pace to lose 88 games. That's right, 88 games. To make matter's worse, in games that have not been started by Carlos Silva, the Cubs are 15-25, a .375 winning percentage!
Silva has consistently been the Cubs' answer. They have won his last eight starts and look to continue that streak today against the Cardinals. Silva is 1-0 ...

In November 2009, Tyler Colvin moved to Arizona to train with Cubs strength coach Tim Buss.
The training program add 25 pounds of muscle and Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella was very impressed with him early this spring.
"We noticed right from the start of spring training at Fitch Park that he was taking some really good batting practice and driving the ball to left-center, right-center," Piniella said.
Colvin had an impressive spring and made the ball club. Now he is quickly becoming the offensive leader of the Cubs. In only 69 at bats he has five home-runs, 13 RBI and is ...

Three players have started a game atop the Cubs batting order this season: Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome, and Marlon Byrd.
Theriot has led off 38 times, Fukudome 10 times, and Byrd once heading into Saturday's game against the Cardinals.
Among those who follow the Cubs, the choice between Theriot and Fukudome is a contentious one. Neither is the ideal choice for a leadoff hitter, but for a team without any better candidates, they have their own advantages.
Looking at this year's numbers, Fukudome is clearly better at drawing walks. While Theriot walks in only 3.4 percent of his plate appearances, Fukudome boasts a ...

The Cubs have an interesting situation on their hands.
Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, James Russell, and now Jeff Stevens are all pitching well coming out of the bullpen. In the rotation, each of Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and Ted Lilly's seasons have been solid overall.
At the moment, Dempster and Lilly are coming off of really good outings while Gorzelanny and Wells are coming off pretty bad outings. Silva's due to start on Saturday.
Carlos Zambrano hasn't exactly been setting the world on fire as either a starter or reliever this year, but he'll be returning to the rotation ...

On the one hand, the Cubs have Mr. Gorzelanny to blame for losing the game yesterday, as he allowed seven runs in five innings.
But at least it solves one dilemma; it solidifies the decision as to which starter will be replaced by Carlos Zambrano next week.
While the offense continues to struggle scoring runs (three runs in Tuesday's win, three of their five runs yesterday were scored after the game was 7-2, and only two hits through seven innings today), Gorzy never really gave the Cubs a chance to win.
Still, he doesn't necessarily deserve to be booted from the rotation, as ...

Pure acts of kindness in this world are hard to believe.
So was it just a friendly gesture by the Chicago Cubs when they agreed to give up their radio slot to air the Chicago Blackhawks’ finals?
The Chicago Tribune reported that the Cubs agreed to let WGN-AM 720 air all of the Hawks’ Stanley Cup finals series . That includes three of the series games that overlap with scheduled Cubs games.
Now, I can’t think of any nitty-gritty, hidden motive the Cubs would have for giving up their airtime. Or maybe I just can’t accept the fact that there is a heart ...